His Lips Were Dry
by koorimechick
Summary: In the library, Albus stares at the boy he hasn't been able to take his eyes off of since first spotting him at King's Cross his first year. His cousin notices, and instead of the harassment he expects, he gets understanding. Mentions slash and femslash.


**Obviously, Harry Potter and its characters belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.**

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><p>His lips were dry. He licked them.<p>

That blonde hair caught the light, and he felt the breath leave his lungs. True to his Ravenclaw nature, the blonde remained oblivious, studying hard for some not-yet-existent exam.

Fuck Scorpius Malfoy for doing this to him. Fuck Scorpius Malfoy for not realizing what he did to Albus's stomach. Fuck life for not giving him big enough balls to do anything about it. Fuck himself for having a desperate need to keep this a secret. He was too young for this.

"Unrequited love… terrible thing, isn't it?"

Albus jumped out of his skin, turned, found his cousin.

Incest or not, she should have been the one to do this to him – or at least someone of her caliber. She was part veela for Merlin's sake. A Weasley with almost no freckles. Bright blue eyes that shone a ridiculous amount underneath her red hair. That also was too bright to seem natural. It was.

Sad part was, though, if Albus was one for incest at all, it would've been her younger brother he found attractive. He sighed. Time to play dumb.

"What are you talking about?" he mumbled boredly, turning back around, glancing at the blonde once more before turning to the book shelf in front of him.

On second thought, why was she even talking to him? Sure, the cousins got together every once in a while at school. But the age difference between Albus and Dominique tended to keep them apart. Dominique was typically too caught up in studying for her sixth year exams to worry about him.

She raised an eyebrow. "You suck at being a Slytherin." He snorted. "You haven't taken your eyes off him since you've been in the library."

He finally turned completely to face his cousin. "Were you spying on me? That's a bit creepy, Dom."

Dominique ran her hand down the spine of a book next to them. "_The Evolution of Ancient Runes to Modern Runes_. Sweet book, huh? Didn't know you were interested in such advanced topics, Ally." Her lips stretched into a smile. "Don't you think it's a bit creepier that you've come to the library to stare at someone you barely talk to?"

Albus felt a flush rise into his cheeks. "I wasn't coming to stare at him."

Dominique chuckled, and Albus silently thanked Merlin she did it quietly enough to not raise attention.

"I know, Albus. You watch him all the time. You like him. And that's okay."

Dominique's face was so straight, and Albus quickly analyzed the situation to see if it were some sort of trap. "I don't…" He took a deep breath, and she picked up where he left off.

"You like boys, Albus. I'm not judging you. I'm telling you I'm here for you."

Here was an opportunity for Albus to finally tell the secret. Why wasn't he taking it?

"Here I was thinking you should've been a Ravenclaw," he muttered. "Domi, I just turned thirteen. I'm too young to know what I feel, to know what I like." An excuse.

"Yes, you are. You know exactly what you like and what you want. You like Malfoy. It's clear on your face." Dominique sighed, scanned some more books, shifted to lean her back against them. "I was nine when I noticed."

Albus's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. His cousin's lips twitched as if to smile, but then settled, her face a serene expression.

"I was nine," she repeated, "when I realized I didn't like little boys paying extra attention to me. Vicky kept asking me if there were any guys I liked. We were on that tour of Bauxbatons, to see which school we wanted to go to, yeah? I mean," here, she shrugged, "we already knew we were going to Hogwarts, but Dad wanted us to check out both places. And Vicky… she ate up all the blokes that were flirting with her. But it made me so uncomfortable."

Was Dominique telling Albus what he thought she was?

"Vicky kept asking me which boy I liked best. I didn't know what to say. I didn't like any of them. But there was this girl. A little Asian girl. I remember thinking she was adorable." She turned to him, really smiled then. "I read somewhere that one in every ten people is gay. I don't know how true it is, but it makes sense, you know?"

He was speechless, his mouth hanging slightly open, lips becoming more chapped by the second. Dominique kept speaking.

"I know you're not brave, Albus. And you don't trust a lot of people. James probably did that to you, the wanker. But Al, I love you, and sometimes, I worry about you."

She seemed confused as to what to do for a moment, but then she hugged him, hard and quick, and let him go.

"I'll make a deal with you. I'll come out to the family – I honestly don't give a fuck if others know, it's not their business – but the family, I will. Pave the way for you, little cousin. I do that, and in the meanwhile, you have to promise me that you'll talk to blondie over there, got it?" She yanked her head in the direction of Malfoy. "Lure him into the idea nice and slow, and he'll be yours in no time." She winked.

This seemed to jar Albus into action.

"He's not—" he started.

"Yes, he is," Dominique interrupted. "He is. After all this time, I can tell, Al. He is. Just… go for it. So it's a deal then?"

He barely had time to nod. She shook his hand anyway, kissed him on the forehead, turned and left; her ponytail bouncing as she went.

Albus took a deep breath, spun on his heel, and marched toward Scorpius Malfoy, determined to ask him how his Transfiguration work was going. And this time, he wouldn't chicken out.

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><p><strong>This is a side story to another story of mine, a Dominique femslash fiction. Maybe one day it'll be available for you guys to read. As of now, the computer it was on died and the flashdrive it was backed up on is lost. But to the fact that I'm not able to write on that at this particular moment, this fiction came out! Yay. <strong>

** Please review. :) **


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